Teach Spanish through storytellling

I like to teach for language acquisition, and not just memorization of words, and book exercises. I use activities that enable students to acquire a lot of vocabulary that they will internalize. The tool I use is a simple, fun, little story in the Spanish language.Stories are vocabulary builders. I center acquisition activities around the stories. I use hand gestures, and body movements to teach vocabulary. This approach is TPR, total physical response which I am a big believer in. I also use TPR in my private Spanish classes I give to both children and adults. I see growth occuring in students as this approach takes away the stress of learning a foreign language, and allows for student experimentation.

Steps involved in teaching storytelling for language acquisition:

1. Teach story vocabulary using hand and body movements and have student do the same movements with me as I teach the words to them. Practice vocabulary with hand body movements until everyone is comfortable with the vocabulary. The vocabulary is on the white board, overhead, or chalkboard. The vocabulary is there until students have acquired language at the end of the story.

2. Present the story using hand and body movements. Then, ask simple yes, no questions. Call on individual students to act out the story as I tell the story without hand gestures. Then, the whole class, groups, and pairs practice the story. I focus on the story line, not the correctness of each literal word in the story.

3. Make novel commands. Students by this time know the vocabulary, but now, mix the words around to form other commands so students further acquire language.

4. Make personalized questions using the story’s vocabulary. Make the questions relevant to the students’ lives.

5. Make personalized mini-situations using students in the room, and exagerating descriptions and activities. This is fun for the students.

6. Evaluate for understanding by having students translate from Spanish to English, or have them complete written or verbal tests.

Before starting storytelling using hand and body movements for teaching vocabulary, I spend a few weeks with what is called traditional TPR. Students respond to the commands I give, and make the same physical movements that I make. Examples: stand up, sit down, walk to the door, touch the door, turn around, point to the wall, point to the floor, touch the floor, put the box under the table. I teach location words and body parts in the beginning lessons before doing stories with the children. I teach: touch you ear, touch your nose, touch your knee, and so forth. I teach, put the box in front of your head, under your head, under the table, in back of your head, next to your head. I use Spanish almost entirely, in my lessons, and after modeling how students are to respond to commands, i then give commands without my physical response to evaluate learning. I start all vocabulary practice with speaking the words or phrases and at the same time representing the vocabulary with a hand gesture or movement of the body. Students are engaged and are not just passive listeners, but they listen, make the same physical movements, and respond to the commands and phrases that i say.

That is my teaching style. There is a lot of energy going on in the room, and students are vital in this approach. I act as a coach or facilitator, or director of a play that the students perform. I have many stories for the children that offer the element of surprise to them as well as vocabulary.

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Kenneth Fach
Tallahassee, Florida
Cell: 850-210-7425
Email: kennethfach@gmail.com
Blog: http://KennethFach.wordpress.com

Seeing the earth from different angles

There is more than one way of looking at the earth. There is more than one way to look at a classroom. There is more than one way to deliver a quality foreign language program in a school.

A number of years ago, I flew to Paraguay, and as the plane went lower I was able to observe the earth simbolized as Paraguay. What I noticed was the brilliance of the color red on the earth. The land was red out in the country, and in yards within the capital city of Asuncion. The red earth made a mark in my memory, and I acquired that characteristic of the Paraguayan land from on high.

The plane landed, I took a ride through the city of Asuncion to the residence where I would be staying. I observed not the red earth that I saw from the sky, but instead, a piece of Paraguayan land filled with green everywhere. There were so many trees, bushes, and shades of green. I felt so happy to be in this new land, and to see the beautiful display of colors and nature all around me. No red land from this perspective.

When entering the neighborhood and then the yard of the home I would be residing in, I could not help but notice the abundance of orange, grapefruit and banana trees everywhere. Now, I was not looking at just green trees, but specific kinds of green trees. I had an even different perspective. Still no red earth at this level of vision.

During the first several weeks in Paraguay, I visited the Paraguay River, and some big lakes. I saw some of the rural landscape around Asuncion, but did not see the red earth, that I saw from the sky. I saw rolling hills, covered in green vegetation, a big lake and white houses around it. I saw so many flowers of all kinds of shapes, sizes and colores. I never saw so many flowers so richly endowed in their plant kingdom. I saw women walking down streets with baskets of bread balancing on their heads. Still another perspective of the land.

As we teachers go into a classroom of students, ready to begin the tasks of acquiring knowledge and skills, we are able to experience the class, its talents, strengths, landscapes, from different perspectives. There is not such thing as a class filled with students. Rather, it is a class filled with learning styles, different motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and different skill sets. We are teaching to ideas, and talents, and bringing forth strengths and challenges in those ideas and talents. We are delivering reinforcements in old perspectives, and delivering content in new perspectives. Students are adaptable, but withing a balance of old and new abilities, and strategies. It is an art, and a science to see what works with what student. What perspective to take and how to see it from one angle or another.

In a foreign language classroom, there are so many opportunities to present to students using many different language acquisition strategies, or simple learning techniques. It make a foreign language classroom an adventurous place to be both for teacher, and for student.

My Philosophy of Education

There is no greater experience on earth than that of immersion in an educational environment, where learning is taking place, where students are free to acquire skills and talents, and where teachers are facilitating, coordinating, and coaching learning activities, sharing knowledge, and inspiring students in their course towards success.

Education consists of not just learning, but acquiring useful, necessary, practical, and intellectually stimulating skills that can be used throughout life. In order for success in education to occur, students should be taught to their style of learning, and a teacher should be familiar with different learning styles to set up the stage for students to be successful, and not fail in the course towards acquisition. Students should be giving hands-on, activities, thought provoking tasks, reading, speaking, writing, listening, and analytical assignments with constant teacher interaction, feedback, input, and demonstration. Both teacher and student should work together, each growing together. Students learn from each other and from teachers, and teachers learn from each other and from students. The team or community approach is so important in education. The student who sits at his/her desk, a being all alone, yet surrounded by other students, and not allowed to participate, be engaged, challenged, praised, and taught using creative teaching and learning styles, is often not going to be an achiever. Variety of topics and tasks, diversity of ideas, praise, constant practice, and a positive atmosphere, are the necessary concomitants to a successful student experience.

The classroom is just one facet within the educational community. This community the department, school as a whole, staff, parents, community resources, community experts, and the internet, all need to be included in a successful classroom educational experience.

In important purpose of education is to allow, and encourage students to experience, respond to, and see the value of other cultures, and a second or third language. Communication brings harmony, and in the realm of communication there exists different languages. Students should leave their formal education able to communicate in one or more foreign languages that are useful, and practical to the students future endeavors and community relationships. A strong foreign language curriculum should be a priority in every school. It is not possible to truly understand others and their cultures, without having acquired the necessary skills to communicate with them in their language. We live in a universe of words, and everything is about words. Students who are good at foreign language studies are often good in other life skills as well.

Education is a universe of creativity, possibility, and functionality. It is not a moment in time, but a process of moments working together with goals, objectives, and more goals and objectives. It goes on through life without stopping to rest. Each classroom student brings value to education, and when engaged, brings even more value. Education is engagement, and teachers are also engaged in the process of learning and acquiring knowledge and skills. Teachers within the educational center are also students.

Threefold success in Spanish class

I present my threefold plan of success with teaching vocabulary in a Spanish class. This does not come from my thoughts, but from others. Teachers are great acquirers of other teachers’ experiences and work in the classroom. I find that the threefold vocabulary acquisition plan does work. It works through a constant supply and use of stories, story lines, and story activities since through stories so much vocabulary is acquired.

I start with the premise that the whole purpose, and most important part of teaching Spanish or any foreign language, is to help the students acquire vocabulary. A good way to teach vocabulary for internalization is through the use of stories and mini-stories that the teacher can create or use from other teachers. I have done both, using my own stories, since i like to create stories, and using stories that other teachers have used.

Before presenting the story, I present vocabulary in the story. I
resent vocabulary using hand and body movements. Each word needs to be understood by the students using some gesture, or body movement. The students need to make the same movements as the teacher calls out the vocabulary, so that students can start to internalize the words and phrases. Students practice with teacher, in pairs, as a class, and in groups. Teacher tests students by callling on a few to respond to the vocabulary the teacher speaks forth, but this time without hand gestures.

Present a mini story or story using the vocabulary presented. Class, groups in the class, pairs, and individuals get to practice the story line using body and hand movements. Do not read the story. Tell the story line, and make it natural.

Next there are three essentials to help in language acquisition, that are done after each story.

First:

Create novel commands using the story’s vocabulary. Call on individuals to respond to these commands. Mix vocabulary around, and use new words with the old. Students are getting more practice with the vocabulary but in novel ways beyond what is in the story.

Second:

Create personalized questions based on what students like. Call on individual students. The questions use the vocabulary from the story, and the novel commands.

Third:

Create personalized mini-situations, using individual students in the class. Make the situations a surprise, use the names of the several students, and make it humorous, and entertaining. Students like to hear about themselves. Again, the purpose is to give more practice with the vocabulary. Exagerate a lot in these situations. Make something bigger than real life.

We can have fun with stories in the Spanish class. I have. Students acquire language, which is the whole point of using stories, besides the culture aspect, used in some stories. Grammar comes later after students acquire a lot of vocabulary.

Spanish is the language of corazon

The Spanish word, “corazon,” is a very beautiful word, and has made an impression on me. I hear the word over and over in Spanish songs, poems, and conversations. It is used is a more spiritual tone than the word “heart” is used in English.

In Spanish, “corazon” can metaphorically refer to love, sweetness, honey, baby, girlfriend, boyfriend, a more spiritual affection, the divine, unity, oneness, home, kindness. It can be repeated many times in the same song or poem.

When listening to Spanish language, such as a song, listen for the word “corazon” and see if you can feel its tone, warmth, beauty, as I do when I hear the word. It is a word that connotes a feeling of tranquility, peace, divine calmness, and stability.

What Kenneth Fach has done with his Spanish

What have I done with my Spanish? More than what you see listed below. Spanish has been my passion, as I have always been in love with the sounds, movements, and play of the words. Here are some things that I am proud of having accomplished with my Spanish.

I was called on to meet an Argentine botonist at the Pensacola Regional Airport. I took him to the plant laboratory, and plant fields to act as his personal interpreter while in the area for a couple weeks. He knew no English. I took hiim throughout laboratories, plant fields, and offices interpreting his observations, and directions given to him by other scientists nad staff. He thanked me, and my reward was admirable for an amateur interpreter. I have not done much interpreting.

I was called on by a British CEO of a small travel company, to translate travel brochures from Spanish into English. This was rewarding work.

I was called on to translate correspondence and reports about an agricultural project, and future agricultural projections with certain plant types. It was a detailed assignment, with the dictionary always at hand for those technical agricultural, and scientific words that I was not familiar with in any language.

I was called on by the police while living in Asuncion, Paraguay, to interpret a conversation between an American who did not speak Spanish, and a local Paraguayan citizen. The issue was concerning witness to some building demolition on private property. I felt like a heroe to both the American, and to the Paraguayan police.

I served as a volunteer English teacher to migrant farmers in a community outside Tallahassee. I was able to use my Spanish to establish rapport, and to be an effective teacher.

I have provided Spanish language lessons online to private individuals. I have been a private Spanish tutor/teacher since 1994. I am currently working on developing an entire Spanish language program on the web. It is in the making.

I served as a classroom Spanish teacher in Milton, Florida, Sneads, Florida, Bainbridge, Georgia, and the Daycroft School in Connecticut. I also taught Florida State University undergraduates while working on my master’s degree in Spanish at that school.

Years ago, when working at Dollar Rent A Car, I was called on to provide interpretation to some visitors from Spain and elsewhere, from time to time.

While employed at Florida’s Dept of Children and Families Florida Abuse Hotline, I used my Spanish language skills to assist callers with and to refer callers to community services related to their issues. I was hired because of my ability to communicate in Spanish fluently.

When I worked at MyFloridaMarketPlace I used my Spanish to assist callers with technology issues with the eProcurement software used by the State of Florida, and was hired because of my Spanish.

I have organized Spanish meetup groups in which people came together to practice their Spanish and I acted as coach or facilitator.

I taught Spanish to a group of Army reservists who needed to acquire Spanish for their upcoming missions to Peru, and elsewhere where Spanish is the dominating language.

I was the first student at the University of West Florida to have gone to live in Paraguay, South America.

I was the first person in my family to have earned a master’s degree in a foreign language.

I had the fortunate situation of being the only Spanish teacher at Sneads High School, in Sneads, Florfida, and was at liberty to create the Spanish curriculum and put it into action.

I was the first and only Spanish teacher that I know of at Bainbridge High School, in Bainbridge, Georgia, to have used the teaching approach of TPR (Total Physical Response) to teach Spanish for acquisition, not just learning. I had done a lot of research in TPR, and became convinced that this method of teaching foreign language is the best. It works, and I was able to see the students’ growth in Spanish acquisition.

My Spanish has been useful in protecting me from interrogations, and sensitive situations along the Paraguayan and Argentine border, and in the country of northern Mexico. In the case of northern Mexico, I was stopped by a group of mean looking men with rifles and machine guns. I had to explain my mission for being in that location outside of Saltillo, Mexico.

I have participated in Spanish social media online, and helped Spanish speakers in their English studies.

I helped non-citizens from various parts of the Spanish world, complete their paperwork to become legal residents or citizens. I also helped individuals get to safety in the United States. I even helped locate jobs for illegal aliens. I will continue to do all I can to help people in need, or with good motivations.

I completed job applications, prepared resumes, translated birth and marriage certificates from Spanish into English, from individuals from Mexico and Central America, as well as elsewhere. I took them around to various locations of need and introduced them to the community, and community resources. I did all of this with and without remuneration.

While in real estate sales, I assisted non-English speakers in locating real estate, selling real estate, and completing sales contracts, and offers.

There are many benefits in learning and acquiring Spanish. You, like me, can be a help for the community, and for good individuals.

Fun little Spanish stories

Cuentito de la casa de hormiga

Kendi anda muy despacio hacia un arbol grande detras de su casa. El amigo de Kendi dice, “Que te duele? Por que’ andas muy despacio?” Kendi dice, “Me duele la pierna? Ay ay ay. El amigo de Kendi dice, “Entonces, sientate.” Kendi se sienta sobre la casa. Es la casa de hormigas. Kendi grita, “Me duele todo.”

Cuentito de Javi y la caja

Javi ve una caja debajo de la mesa. Javi anda rapido a la mesa. Se agacha, y extiende los brazos para recoger la caja. Javi tiene la caja. Javi anda rapido a la puerta, pero no se para. Se pega la cabeza en la puerta. El llora. El perro esta al lado de Javi, y salta encima de Javi.

Cuentito, El cesto, no la caja!

Mama’ le grita a Kendi, “busca el cesto, por favor.” Kendi busca el cesto. Ve debajo de la mesa, y no esta’. Ve sobre la mesa y no esta’. Ve detras de la mesa, y no esta’. ve al lado de la mesa y no esta’. Kendi da la vuelta y anda a la puerta. Ve a la izquierda de la puerta y ve la caja sobre el piso. Recoge la caja y le da la caja a su mama. La mama grita y dice, “el cesto, no la caja.”

Cuentito de La botella de agua debajo del arbol

Hace calor afuera. Kendi esta’ afuera. Kendi corre rapidamente con un amigo alrededor del arbol grande. El arbol grande esta’ detras de la casa. Kendi recoge una botella de agua debajo del arbol. Bebe agua. Se sienta, y se acuesta.

Useful Spanish Expressions

Abajo es una lista de palabras y frases utiles en castellano (espanol) para ustedes. Below is a list of useful words and phrases in Spanish for all of you.

Que bueno! Good! How nice! Great! Wonderful!
Que lindo! How pretty, beautiful!
Que bonito! How beautiful!
Que hermoso! How beautiful!
Es tan bello! It’s so beautiful!
No me digas! Your kidding! No way!
Pienso que… I think…
Opino que… In my opinion…
Me gustaría… I’d like to…
Me gusta… I like…
Preferiría… I’d prefer…
Sin duda… Without a doubt,…
Discrepar: Disagreeing:
No pienso que… I don’t think that…
No te parece que sería mejor… Don’t you think it would be better…
Que te parece? What do you think?
No estoy de acuerdo, I don’t agree,…
Pero que tal… But what about…
Dudo si… I doubt if…
Nombrar motivos: Giving Reasons:
Para empezar… To start with,…
La razón porque.. The reason why…
Es por eso que… That’s why…
Muchas personas piensan… Many people think…
Considerando… Considering…
Unir palabras: Linking words:
por ejemplo… for example…
tambien… also…
igualmente… similarly…
en contraste… in contrast…
sin embargo… however…
por otro lado… on the other hand…
claramente… clearly…
ya que… since…
No puedo. I can’t.
Si puedo. Yes, I can.

It is always good to have a list of useful Spanish words and phrases that you can turn to, or better yet, a list that you can internalize, and have at hand in thought when you need to use particular language in Spanish communication.